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hospitality

Americas Best Value Inn Goes Green

Vantage Hospitality Group announced that all of its nearly 900 Americas Best Value Inn and Canadas Best Value Inn properties throughout North America will carry biodegradable packaging in their
guest rooms, including shampoo, body lotion and bath soap.

Americas Best Value Inn claims to be the first national hotel chain to make such a strong and all-encompassing commitment. Melissa
Scott, spokesperson for Coral Springs, Fla.-based Vantage Hospitality, says Americas Best Value Inn properties will start carrying the biodegradable packaging as their current amenity supplies are
depleted. A marketing campaign is planned to highlight the new effort, she says.

"We are making a push via our advertising campaigns (print and online), Web site, social media, and at all our
properties with in-room announcements and counter displays," Scott tells Marketing Daily. "We are also making sure we target the earth-friendly, eco-conscious social media resources such as
blogs to let them and their readers know about our efforts to make a difference."

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About 3.5 billion bottles and caps go into landfills every year in the U.S. alone and it takes 450 years for a
plastic bottle to break down in a landfill. About 95% of plastics are not recycled and wind up in landfills. To help solve the problem, Vantage has partnered with Melbourne, Australia-based Concept
Amenities, whose products include an organic enzyme called Eco Pure that changes the molecular structure of plastic, allowing the bottles to biodegrade in a landfill in less than nine years instead of
centuries. The bottles can also be recycled.

The soap and shampoo inside the bottles is also better for the environment. They focus on the minimization or elimination of sulfates, parabens,
petrochemicals, DMDM Hydantoin, Propylene Glycol, DEA & TEA and mineral oil.

Vantage Hospitality, parent company of Americas Best Value Inn and The Lexington Collection, is the 10th largest hotel
company worldwide.